How can people do this to their children? How can people come to North America and send their kids back to their countries of origin to get this done? You know, I'm all about diversity and religious tolerance, but I cannot condone or understand this kind of behaviour. I don't give two shits about why people do it or what cultural impetus is driving them. This is the worst cycle of abuse I've ever heard about.

Right now, female genital mutilation (FGM) is in the news because the American Academy of Pediatrics has approved a 'ritual nick' performed for religious or cultural reasons. They claim that it could be a compromise between preventing mutilation and not allowing the procedure and driving families back to their home countries to have the full mutilation carried out.

I think that's bullshit.

If your home life is insane enough that you value ripping your kid's labia and clitoris off their body over any trifling concerns about pain, infection and the quality of their future health, then you're not going to be satisfied with a ritual "nick". You're going to go for the whole shebang. What's worst is that this is often encouraged by females who have had it done to them, so you're not going to get a lot of support from people who have been raised to think that this is the only way for them to succeed in life.

Hell, if you're in some idiot country where people think this is a good idea, it probably is your only way to succeed. And, yeah, I said "idiot". If you want me to change my mind, stop mutilating women. But these people are in the U.S. and in the U.S., while things aren't perfect, there are plenty of opportunities for women to succeed, all of which don't involve getting parts of their body sawn off and sewed shut.

There has been incidences in Canada, enough that the Canadian Criminal Code has been amended to prohibit the practice of removal of a child under 14 to another country for the purpose of committing FGM.

I am biased, I am taking this personally and I am most certainly not cognizant of every aspect of this practice. I don't give a fuck. People who support this practice are fucked in the head and should be stopped at every opportunity with legislation that ruins their fucking lives if they try this or succeed at it. Their children should be taken away and put in homes where the people have a half-assed idea of what it is to treat people like human beings and not like objects that need to be modified to bring the best price on the open market.